Faced with increased complexity and ever-growing costs, IT Optimization is on the agenda for every CIO. Optimization is a comprehensive approach to increasing the effectiveness and agility of your entire IT infrastructure while reducing overall costs. Consolidation is a fundamental first step in the optimization process and a logical place to start, offering rapid return on investment.

DSS is one of a select group of IBM architects and IBM business partners now certified for the IT Optimization CDAT (Consolidation Discovery and Analysis Tool) Study for Server Consolidation.

The methodology starts with several days of data collection from your existing server environment. DSS Engineers then evaluate the collected data, analyze islands of the data on servers, and begin to select consolidation solution strategies to fit your environment. A solution is proposed and a Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis is prepared.

“Through the CDAT study, DSS uses a proven IBM methodology to document and reveal server consolidation opportunities,” says Dan Miller, DSS Specialist. “The ultimate objective is reducing our customers’ IT costs and complexities while providing a more rational, stable foundation for business growth and new solution deployment.”

The CDAT study, although developed by IBM, is a vendor neutral approach for Intel server consolidation. DSS also conducts analyses on UNIX platforms and on IBM’s eServer iSeries and pSeries systems. Our engineers have helped clients achieve 20-45% cost reductions on environmental, management, and maintenance costs by consolidating their server environment.

More than simply a “box reduction” or cost takeout exercise, DSS consolidation studies address physical infrastructure, opportunities for virtualization, and systems management concerns, enabling a strategy for delivery of an optimized and resilient infrastructure.

To get started, contact your DSS representative, or schedule a visit to our IBM Business Partner Innovation Center to see how DSS itself has consolidated workloads and used virtualization to optimize resource utilization.